Guillelmus Peraldus / Guillaume Perault (ca. 1190-1271) - photo 1

Guillelmus Peraldus / Guillaume Perault (ca. 1190-1271)

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£ 18 900
Auction dateClassic
13.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
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CHRISTIE'S
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ID 1105588
Lot 23 | Guillelmus Peraldus / Guillaume Perault (ca. 1190-1271)
Guillelmus Peraldus / Guillaume Perault (c.1190-1271)

Summa de virtutibus et vitiis, in Latin, decorated manuscript on vellum [Germany, c.1300]

A fundamental moral-theological encyclopedia on the Seven Cardinal Virtues and the Seven Deadly Sins, written by the Dominican preacher Guillaume Perault: one of the most important preachers’ and confessors’ hand­books of the later Middle Ages, here in a copy written shortly after the author's death.



162 x 118mm. 118 leaves, complete, collation: 16, 2-58, 6-710, 88, 910, 108, 11-1210, 138, 1412, 151 (of 2, ii a cancelled blank), contemporary foliation in roman numerals 1-117 followed here, 2 columns of 38 lines written in a small, neat, heavily abbreviated script, foliation, headings, paraph marks and rubrics in red, initials alternately in red or blue with purple or red penwork flourishing extending into margins, Perpetual Calendar added in a later 14th-century hand, marginal annotations in various medieval hands (light marginal thumbing and soiling, a few tiny wormholes to opening leaves, a few contemporary repairs, else in good condition throughout). 16th-century German half tooled calf over wooden boards (the calf rubbed, lacking catches and with remnants of leather clasps, some wormholing).



Provenance:

(1) Fr. Franciscus de Guercis, Franciscan: his near contemporary ownership inscription on f.117: ‘Hic liber est ad usum fratris Francisci de Guercis de Castr?guo ? ordinis minorum sacrarum litterarum professoris indigni quem emit tribus ducatis aureis’. The 'Franciscus de' has been written over, and there is an erased inscription beneath this ownership inscription.



(2) Still in Germany, Heidelberg, in the 16th century: ‘Emptus Hedelbergae pro 14 Alb : Anno 1535’, inscription inside upper cover.





Content: Perpetual Calendar ff.1-6v; Guillelmus Peraldus, Summa de virtutibus et vitiis ff.1-117, beginning with the Summa de virtutibus, opening: ‘Incipit Summa de virtutibus / Cum utilia studere debeamus exemplo Salomonis [...]’ ff.1-32; Summa de vitiis, opening: ‘Incipit summa de viciis VII mortalis. Primo de vicio gule / Dicturi de singulis viciis […]’ ff.33-117 (f.42 blank but foliated), the scribe signing off with a quote from Ovid, Heroides XVII l.265: ‘littera iam lasso pollice sistat opus (‘let the letter stop the work, because my thumb is now tired’); additions in a later 14th-century hand, including a transcription of a 1389 Urban VI indulgence, a number of pentrials, and metereological aphorisms ff.117v-119v.



The Dominican Guillaume Perault, or Peyraud, was the perfect embodiment of the ideals of his order, and was renowned for the brilliance and zeal of his preaching. His contemporaries praised his virtuous character and application: 'in keeping with his religious profession he evangelised by word, pen and example; even in death he did not cease preaching'. He had joined the Order in the 1230s and spent the remainder of his life travelling to preach and hear confession, and in writing treatises that could serve as the basis for the sermons and pastoral care of others.



Perault's Summae originally appeared as two distinct and separate works: the earlier of the two, composed in c.1236, was the Summa de vitiis, which addressed the characteristics of the Seven Deadly Sins, or vices, and their constituent parts, and survives today in approximately 500 manuscript copies. The Summa de virtutibus was written a decade later and was designed as a contrast to the earlier work by describing the Seven Cardinal Virtues standing in direct opposition to the principal vices. It survives today in over 300 manuscripts. By 1250 the two texts were circulating together so often (as in the present manuscript) that they were frequently recognised as a single work. Both Summae are replete with hundreds of exempla, historical and fanciful anec­dotes, and quotations from Classical, Patristic, and contemporary authorities.

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